Alexander e



(No Model.)

A. E. PETERSON.

BELT STRETOHING MACHINE.

'No. 431,074. Patented July 1, 1890.

WITN EESEE INVENTUR I 9W W ZKQE w a? a Quay-q UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

ALEXANDER E. PETERSON, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

BELT-STRETCHING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 431,074, dated July 1,1890.

Application filed April 7, 1890: Serial No. 346,878. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER E. PETER- soN, of New York city, New York,have invented an Improved Machine for Stretching Leather, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to a machine of simple construction used forstretching leather, and more particularly designed for use in themanufacture of belting.

It consists in the various features of improvement more fully pointedout in the claims.

In the accompanying" drawings, Figure l is a top View of my improvedmachine with bar f partly broken away. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinalsection on line no as, Fig. 1.

The letters a a represent two longitudinal rails supported upon feet a,and connected by cross-pieces, the Whole constituting the frame of themachine.

b is aright and left screw, the shaft of which loosely passes throughbearings b, that slide in slots formed in rails a. The screw 1) may berevolved by crank-handle b 0 c are a pair of nuts surrounding screw Z)at opposite sides, and connected by the links 0 c to a fixed cross-pieced and by the links 0 c to a slide (1. This slide moves in the rails a,bywhich it is guided. It will be seen that on turning the handle I) thescrew is by links 0' moved away from cross-piece d, while the slide (1is by links (2 moved in the same direction, but more rapidly than thescrew.

Upon the stationary portion of the machine thus far described there areadapted to be placed two clamps, one fixed and the other movable. Eachclamp consists of two uprights 6, connected by a fixed lower jaw c and apivoted upper jaw 6 An offset 6 is preferably formed on the lower jaw toconstitute a biting or clamping edge, against which the upper jaw works.The lower jaws are provided, moreover, with a central opening, throughwhich a stretcher-bar f passes. Upon one end of this bar is formed arackf engaged by a click f pivoted to the lower jaw of the fixed clamp, asshown. The other end of the bar is rigidly connected to the movableclamp.

In use the fixed clamp is placed upon the rails a between any one pairof notches a thereof that hold the clamp in place. The stretchenbar f ispassed through the fixed clamp, and the movable clamp is also placedupon the rails. A nose f on the barf enters .1 i one of a set of slots(1 in slide 61', and thus locks one end of the bar to the slide. Theopposite end of the bar is by rack f and click f so connected to thefixed clamp that it permits the bar to be moved in a direction away fromthe clamp. The leather A to be stretched is next passed through theclamps, and the grip is effected by forcing the upper jaw 8 down uponthe fixed jaw bya suitable pin e that may be introduced through anopening e of the upper jaw. Between the leather and the bar f a centralcross-block g should be placed. As the crank-handle b is now revolvedthe slide cl is moved toward the right, as already described; but theslide will, by engaging the nose f of the bar f, draw the bar, andconsequently the movable clamp, along with it, thus stretchingtheleather in the desired manner. During this motion theclick j will travelover the teeth of the rack f, that is drawn through the fixed clamp.\Vhen the stretching operation ceases, the engagement of the click andrack will hold the clamps at any distance to which they have been drawnapart. The clamps, together with bar f. block g, and the leather A, are110w lifted off the stretching-frame and placed aside for any length oftime, during which the leather is to be kept under ten sion. A secondpair of clamps are now put upon the machine to receive a second piece ofleather, as is usual in leather-stretching machines.

What I claim is- 1. In a leather-stretching machine, the combination ofa frame with a right and left screwshaft, nuts surrounding thescrew-shaft, a slide, links pivoted to the nuts andto the slide, andwith a pair of clamps, one of which is adaptedto be operated by theslide, substantially as specified.

2. In a leather-stretching machine, the com bination of a frame with aright and left screw, a slotted slide connected thereto by links, abarf, having nose f that engages the slotted slide, and with a fixed anda movable clamp, the fixed clamp being locked to the machine- I frameand the movable clamp being locked to bar f, substantially as specified.

3. In a leather-stretching machine, the (30111- bination of thefollowing elements: a pair of rails, aright and left screw, slidingbearings for said screw, a fixedcross-piece, and a slide, nutssurrounding the screw, links for connecting the nuts to the cross-pieceand slide, and

ALEXANDER E. PETERSON.

Witnesses:

F. v. BRIEsEN, A. J ONGHMANS.

